


10 Ways to Say I Love You (without actually saying it)

by Risafi



Category: BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, girlxgirl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:55:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25823245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Risafi/pseuds/Risafi
Summary: In which Tomoe and Ran express their love for one another without actually saying those three little words.
Relationships: Mitake Ran/Udagawa Tomoe
Kudos: 35





	10 Ways to Say I Love You (without actually saying it)

One.

“Close your eyes for a second. I wanna try something.”

Ran stammered and flushed pink. “Tomoe, why are you being so bold right now? What’s gotten into you?”

The red head smiled and gave a chuckle in response. “Well that’s the point of closing your eyes isn’t it? So you wont be able to know what I’m gonna do. But trust me on this, it’s not gonna be bad or anything you don’t want from me.”

Ran gave a sigh to signify she was yielding, and gave a nod before closing her eyes. It had suddenly gotten eerily quiet, and Ran moved her head around as if she was searching for her girlfriend’s voice. “Tomoe? You haven’t left me have you?”

“Of course not! I was just getting ready. Now, hold still.”

Ran stopped her head, feeling fingers lifting her chin. She scrunched her face up slightly as she felt warm air on her face; and her ears honed in on Tomoe’s low breathing. A mere second later, she felt tingling as their lips pressed together. She gave a noise as she parted her own lips to feel more as they sat. There was a familiar taste in the kiss; a sneaky bit of tongue from Ran’s end cemented the flavour to be-

“Chocolate?” She opened her eyes at the revelation, seeing her partner with a huge grin on her face.

“You like it?” She fished a cute looking plastic sundae figure from her pocket. “Himari took me shopping and I found this lipgloss. I figured that you might appreciate kisses a bit more sweet and less beefy.”

Ran looked back down at the plastic sundae, before shuffling closer to Tomoe with reddening cheeks. “I have to admit, it was pretty sweet. But I think I need to test it one more time.”

She didn’t even wait for a response before grabbing her collar and pulling her in for round two.

Two.

“You keep pushing yourself too hard; didn’t I tell you to slow down just a little bit?”

Gentle strokes of red hair went against the stern tone of the owner; the receiver tucked under sheets and seeming to just agree with the scolding if it meant staying like this for longer. “I know, but I can’t help it. Plus I get a super cute nurse so I think being sick for a couple of days is worth helping people for weeks, right?”

Ran huffed in the response, but continued to stroke her girlfriend’s hair. “If that’s how you see it then I’ll take it as it is. I just hope it’s a cold and not anything worse.”

“Yeah me too. I don’t think I could have over a week of sleeping. It’s just not who I am.” Tomoe’s eyes seemed to get a bit bigger; almost glassy as if to show innocence. “Though, if that happened you would stay here with me, wouldn’t you?”

“If I didn’t have to do something for the business, of course.” She stopped stroking momentarily, and moved the hand to place the back to Tomoe’s forehead. “You don’t seem as feverish as you did last night, that’s good.”

“See? Not only are you cute, but you just being here makes me better much quicker.” Tomoe smiled at her own goofy comment, and swallowed hard. “What I don’t vibe with is the sore throat.”

“Let me top up your tea, give me a few minutes okay?” Ran stood up and took the mug, turning once to see Tomoe almost sulking a little bit.

She had brought over a few things upon hearing about her girlfriend being sick once again for doing too much at once. It thankfully didn’t happen often, but when it happened it hit hard.

She bustled around with the kettle, adding her mixture of tea, lemon and honey; and while waiting for the microwave to finish heating in the meantime. She wasn’t a particularly good cook, so she had some help with it all but she was still proud of the job nonetheless.

“Okay, I need you to sit up for this.” Ran had taken her time to take the tea up first, before clambering back down the stairs to get the next treat.

Tomoe complied, her pale state making her seem all the more sickly before she saw the bowl. She took it gratefully, peering in to see vegetables bobbing around in orange liquid. She grabbed the spoon to scoop some up, blew on it and then popped it into her mouth.

“This is good; Pumpkin soup?” Tomoe’s eyes lit up slightly, and Ran gave a nod as she sat back in her spot.

“I had help, but I know soup is supposed to help your sinuses with the steam and heat.” She twiddled her thumbs as she watched Tomoe take another spoonful. “Is it good?”

“It’s very good. And it’s helping a lot. Thanks babe.”

Ran looked away with tinged cheeks.

Three.

“Hey, are you ticklish?”

Ran shook her head as they lay on Tomoe’s bed together. “I haven’t been ticklish for like seven years now.”

Tomoe leant up on her arm in curiousity. “Wait seriously? How did you get over being ticklish like that?”

“I just, decided I didn’t want to be ticklish one day. Then when dad tried I didn’t laugh so I knew it worked.” Ran’s face screwed up into confusion at the dumbfounded look she got in reply. “I assumed that was a common thing to do?”

“Hell, no! That’s like a super power or something.” Tomoe placed her larger hand on Ran’s stomach and pursed her lips. “Can I try anyway?”

Ran gave a nod and merely watched as her girlfriend began trying to tickle her. The slow growing frustration was becoming more evident the longer she tried. After a minute or so trying different spots and then giving up with a pout. “Man, that’s both terrifying and amazing.”

“I told you.” She shuffled to match Tomoe’s pose; who now rolled back onto her back in defeat. “Are you?”

“Oh hell yeah; if anything I think I’ve gotten worse.” She huffed and clicked her tongue.

“…can I try?” Ran look expectantly, and shuffled over once she got a nod in response.

She began gently tickling Tomoe’s waist; she would argue that she was barely brushing and her bigger built girlfriend was already in fits of laughter and kicking around. Ran’s eyes lit up slightly; she began to start trying other parts of her body and the laughter got louder and more energetic. Between her laughter fits she cried uncle a couple of times, and Ran stopped and sat back on her feet. Tomoe was breathing heavily; red faced with soft giggles still parting ways with her mouth.

“You weren’t kidding huh?” Ran gave a smile from the sight.

“Yeah, I wasn’t. And now you have another piece of ammo against me that you’ll probably never use because you’re not that kind of person.” She finally steadied herself, back to being on her back.

“True. Although for the sake of seeing you laugh and looking like that I may have to think about using it as a form of punishment down the track.” Ran lay down, cuddling up to Tomoe’s side and feeling how warm she was.

Tomoe gave a breathy chuckle. “I mean, to see you smile like that? I might just let you.”

Four.

“Oh man, remember this disaster?”

Tomoe placed a scrapbook down on the bed as they lay on their stomachs beside each other, pointing to a photo of them in middle school. Back when she had cut her hair off after she had been rejected by a girl she thought was into her.

Ran gave a nod, not taking her eyes off the picture. “I do. You just turned up one day with it all hacked off. I assumed you had done it yourself.” She finally looked over to her love; the huge cascade of red locks covering her back. “Why did you even do that?”

Tomoe faltered, and started to go pink remembering what happened. “Well, there was a girl I was kind of into. No one you guys really took interest in so I guess that’s why I was? We had a class or two together, and she seemed like she was hinting at me to ask her out. So I did and she laughed at me. Said that she liked boys and that even if she was interested in me, I was too girly looking. So it was an impulse rejection move.”

Tomoe groaned and rolled onto her back, huffing from the memory. She had been put in that position many times before, but for some reason that one hurt more than the rest. Maybe it was because she was the first.

Ran on instinct, shuffled closer and leant over her; she ran a hand through Tomoe’s hair gently. “Well she was immature to even think of that, let alone say it. Your looks shouldn’t determine everything.”

“Yeah well I’m with you now and the past is in the past.” She smiled and almost purred as her hair continued to get played with. “Say, how would you feel if I cut my hair again anyway?”

“You know that I don’t care either way. Though, if you cut it off to that length, what am I going to play with to make you feel better?”

Tomoe gave a smile and cupped Ran’s cheeks. “I mean I could name a couple of things, but I do get the point. I love it when you play with my hair a lot.”

Ran puffed her cheeks out and went pink. “Thank god you changed that sentence direction or I’d have to hit you.”

Tomoe let her go, and initiated for them to cuddle. Ran complied easily, nuzzling into the red locks and resting her head against a shoulder. “Would you ever grow your hair out?”

Ran shrugged her shoulders casually. “I guess I could try it out once and see. Though I would still be dyeing the streak; it might get expensive.”

“Say, why did you pick that colour specifically anyway? I figured it was because Afterglow’s colours were pretty much decided to be red and black.”

Ran went red, and hesitated to speak. “Um, I-I did it to match you…I’ve always admired you so it was like, my way of expressing that?”

“Wait, seriously?” Tomoe’s voice pitched slightly higher and she hugged Ran tighter. “God says you; the coolest girl I know.”

“God please stop already.” Ran huffed, her ears bright red and her face overheating. “Just, don’t tell anyone else that’s why I do it, okay?”

Tomoe pulled Ran’s head back gently before stealing a soft kiss. “Are you kidding? No one is ever going to find out anything that intimate.”

Five.

Tomoe sat on the stairs in front of a house door, face in her knees and arms wrapped around. She lifted only enough to place her phone to her ear, and gave a sigh as she listened to it ring a few times. Finally she heard the sleepy sounding voice on the other end.

_“Tomoe-chin, what’s up?”_

“I uh, I messed up.” Tomoe was met with silence. “Ran and I had a fight Moca. Like, an actual fight.”

_“What happened? What did you do?”_

“How did you know it was- urgh never mind. Yes, it was me. I messed up big time.” Tomoe rolled her head back with a groan before going back to her original position. “We were uh, getting a bit hot and heavy. And I assumed it would be okay to ugh, get heavier. She screamed and threw me off her. So I left the house because I feel so bad.”

There was silence for an awkwardly long moment. _“…You’re still at the house though, right?”_

“Of course I am. I’m sitting on the front steps.” Tomoe looked back at the front door behind her as if listening in for any hints of movement behind it. “I wasn’t planning on leaving her alone completely. I just, don’t know what to do now. She was pretty freaked out by it.”

_“She probably didn’t expect it to go that fast. It’s Ran we’re talking about.”_ There was rustling between Moca’s sentences. _“She will know you didn’t intentionally do it. Tomoe, you’re a good girl. Just stay there and let her come to you, remember?”_

“Yeah, you’re right. Thanks Moca.” Tomoe felt the corner of her mouth tug into a half smile. “I knew calling you was the best plan of action.”

_“Of course. I know Ran the best…well, besides you of course. Do you want me to hang on the phone until you’re let back in?”_

Tomoe shook her head with a chuckle despite knowing Moca wouldn’t see it. “Nah it’s fine. I can tell you’re trying to play host to at least one person. Go do that.”

_“Ohhhhh, so you finally notice Moca can pull in cute girls too. Good eye.”_ A bit of silence for a moment. _“Himari said to not be silly. Bye-bye.”_

Tomoe heard the phone click to cut the phonecall, and she stretched her legs out in defeat. A click was heard moments later, and she twisted her torso around to see Ran opening the front door slowly; seeming relieved she was sitting there. The door was opened completely, and Tomoe took the invitation to go back inside.

She turned around as the door closed, and she felt Ran wrap herself around her tightly. “I’m sorry I pushed you. I should’ve just said to stop instead of making a spectacle of it all.”

“Woah hey, no.” Tomoe pulled her back to look into her rose eyes. “You aren’t the one to apologise. You were made to feel uncomfy and I should’ve stopped before it got to that stage. I’m the one that’s sorry. I read into something that wasn’t there.”

“It was there, I led you on.” Ran was starting to get frustrated. “I just panicked because I didn’t know how to respond to it.”

“Regardless of what it was, it’s not your fault.” Tomoe pulled her back in and held her tight. “I don’t ever want to make you feel like that again, alright?”

She felt a nod in response on her shoulder, and she smiled. “Good. How about we have a shower and get freshened up, then we can just cuddle in bed with some music and e-books?”

“That sounds nice, I’d like that.”

Six.

“Tomoe, I need a little help here.”

Tomoe stood and giggled, shaking her head. Her partner pouted in response, standing still and not daring to move as her captors continued to crawl up her legs; reaching her shirt and dangling for dear life.

Kittens. About ten of them, crying with their tiny little mews and clambering up to Ran’s shoulders. One had already reached its goal; mewing loudly and headbutting her cheek.

“I can’t deal with this.” She said flatly, albeit not making any movement to try get them off her.

“Trust me babe, I can’t either. It’s honestly so adorable and I want to almost leave you there.” Tomoe wiped her eyes from the tears of laughter, holding onto the fencing that kept the kittens in the run. “We should buy them all.”

“If we buy them all we’ll be crazy cat ladies before we even are ready for it.” Another kitten on her other shoulder. “They’re cute though.”

“Not as cute as you, but close to it.” Tomoe finally climbed over and made her way to her fluff covered girlfriend; reaching out and gently grabbing a small silver kitten struggling to reach for the hem of Ran’s shirt. “Come here little guy.”

Ran made a noise and hissed a little bit. “There’s one stuck to my butt. The claws just went straight in.”

“Oh, like right in?” Tomoe shuffled to look, and snorted seeing a small fluffy black kitten holding on for dear life, crying loudly. “I want this one, has good taste.”

“Please get it off and then I’ll agree with you.” Ran felt as the grip in her skin and jeans subside and Tomoe held the kitten out. It was just a ball of black fluff with big round green eyes. It stopped mewing as soon as it was in her hands. Ran felt her eyes well up a little bit.

“Well? What do you think?” Tomoe began grabbing kittens gently and placing them up in the scratch post house as her girlfriend was entranced with the tiny black fluff ball.

“Yes, this one.” She stated as Tomoe finally grabbed the last kitten, the one headbutting her. Then she actually saw it. A cute red fluff ball. “Oh no, that one too.”

“You want both? We can get both. It’s okay.” Tomoe held the red kitten; who began purring and rubbing itself on her hands enthusiastically. “Let’s get them both.”

Seven.

“So, what was your first kiss like?!”

Himari was looking at Ran and Tomoe inventively; Moca grinning like the Cheshire cat at the question. Ran flushed red while Tomoe actually began to give it some thought.

“It was pretty hot. I think it was when you guys went ahead of us after practice one day and I was just tired of figuring out what was going on with us. So I just asked her to tell me which way to go and then we kissed pretty roughly.” Tomoe tapped her chin. “The wall was definitely involved.”

“T-that’s not how it happened at all. My god.” Ran stammered, having listened to a private makeout session be revealed in front of their two nosey friends. She soon however huffed as they both still looked with great interest. “Fine,

“It was when we were having the sleepover at Himari’s house and we shared the spare mattress in the living room. It was cold so I just innocently cuddled in. To which we were holding each other and then we just kissed.”

Himari seemed to find that story a lot better. “That’s so cute! And you guys weren’t even dating yet which makes it so much cuter!”

Tomoe looked confused at the notion. “Are you sure? When I woke up you had your back to me but a firm grip on my arm around you. I don’t remember that.”

There was silence for a few moments as Ran looked down at the table bright red and seeming to regret ever saying anything; Himari was looking a bit disappointed at the bubble being burst, and Moca kept her grin on.

“Oooooooh, Ran made a move on the innocent Tomo-chin without her knowledge. What a scandal.”

“Sh-shut it Moca. You cried the first time Lisa made a move on you.”

“But I was aware of her doing it at the time-“

“Wait, wait, wait…” Tomoe turned to her partner; who avoided eye contact. “Are you sure that’s what happened? Because I just remember my story as the first one. Isn’t the first kiss one where you’re both aware of it?”

Ran placed her head in her folded arms and made an inhumane noise in frustration and embarrassment in response.

They’d need to really discuss what their first kiss really was without an audience.

Eight.

Silence.

The one time that Ran loved it when they did absolutely nothing together and not feel guilty about it. Tomoe’s breathing was slow; lips parted slightly as she was sound asleep on Ran’s bed. The latter girl just watched her face with a small smile; she was being rewarded with the image most people would dream of having.

She decided to shuffle closer ever so slowly; Tomoe’s arm was loosely draped around her waist and Ran still was unsure of how deep a sleep she was. She close enough for their noses and foreheads to lightly touch, and she closed her eyes while continuing to smile. She felt so warm and the silence engulfing them was music in of itself to her.

She’d have to remember that when she woke up; because for now she just wanted to enjoy the nap with her love.

…

Tomoe woke up as the room was starting to get darker; her eyes were adjusting and she felt warm breath near her face. Once she seemed to be able to focus; she noticed Ran’s sleeping face right in front of her and she felt her heart swell. This was the first time that Ran had initiated their closeness and it made Tomoe feel more special than she ever dreamed.

She wrapped her arm around Ran’s waist tighter; and slowly shuffled herself so close they were almost pressed flush against each other. But just enough to allow Ran to move in if she woke up or away if she was uncomfortable.

Nine.

“How long do you intend to stay there for?”

Tomoe stretched her arms out; her head not moving from Ran’s lap as they were curled up on the couch together. She gave a sleepy grin as she looked up. “As long as you’ll allow me to.”

“Well at this rate it’ll be a while.” Ran began to use her hand to massage Tomoe’s head softly. “But it’s okay, it’s not like we had anywhere to go this afternoon.”

Tomoe made a noise in contempt as she closed her eyes. “Good. Because I wasn’t planning to move either way.”

Ran hummed in response and she began to send messages on her phone that were pending; her massaging became slower and more sensual in her wake. Tomoe made small groans in bliss and seemed nuzzle into Ran’s thighs. Ran smiled but decided to play a phone game or two as she continued to listen to Tomoe getting softer until there was almost silence.

“Enjoying that a little bit?” She finally decided to enquire, peering down at her girlfriend’s face.

The sounds of soft snoring replaced the silence and Ran gave a small giggle in response. She moved her phone so she got a clear shot; and took a photo to send to their group chat. What she didn’t count on was both their phones going off loudly in repeat succession from the rest of their group commenting on how cute Tomoe was. She woke up with a start and left Ran’s lap; much to the owner’s dismay.

Tomoe pulled her phone out and checked the group chat; she looked up at Ran with a disapproving look. “You sent them a photo of me sleeping?”

“And a video of you snoring.” Ran looked away; her grin slowly creeping on her face. “I think it’s cute.”

Tomoe slowly grinned herself, sliding over and cuddling her girlfriend and pressing her nose into her cheek. “You know what else is cute? You.”

Ran went red and looked away. “Stop that, you know it makes me feel weird.”

Tomoe gave a laugh and pulled her chin back over to pamper her lips with soft kisses in response.

Ten.

“I’m so nervous.”

Tomoe muttered to herself; her leg jiggling as she sat on the bench downtown. The sun was slowly starting to set, and she checked her phone to see that her message had at least been read but nothing more. And even though Tomoe knew if she sent direct messages about meeting times Ran would show up; but it still made her anxious to see that she saw it and left it as is.

This time it was different.

She put her phone away in her coat pocket and looked up to see Ran walking towards her; scarf around the bottom half of her face and hands shoved in her own coat’s pockets. Tomoe stood up a little too quickly, but Ran didn’t seem to mind as she continued on to cuddle into her instantly. Tomoe chuckled and wrapped her arms around her and squeezed on instinct.

“Thanks for coming. I know it’s weird how I worded it.” They finally released and Tomoe initiated for them to hold hands. She waited as Ran pulled her hands out and gripped firmly in response. “I have something important I wanted to say to you.”

“I figured by the way you wanted to come out here instead of just come home and tell me.” Ran looked up and cocked her head slightly. “So, what did you want to tell me?”

Tomoe breathed out, and suddenly got nervous. “So, you know we’ve been together for a while…”

“Yes, we have.”

“And now we live together with our two little fur babies…”

“Yes, we do.” Ran then began looking like she was getting the idea of where this was going, but then she suddenly went back to looking in curiousity.

“And really, I’ve never felt this way about anyone else before.” Tomoe took a sharp breath and let go of her right hand to fumble in her pocket, before pulling a small box out and awkwardly squeezing it open. “So I want to stand here right now and ask you to be my wife.”

Ran swallowed hard and her eyes went glassy as she stared at the ring glistening infront of her. She then looked up at Tomoe’s face, the sun setting right behind her head and illuminating her red locks. And she started sobbing. She placed her free hand to her face but nodded furiously. Tomoe took the ring out and slipped it onto Ran’s hand still in hers gently, and then pulled her into a tight embrace while starting to sniff too. Ran moved her head up so they could share a passionate kiss as they held each other tightly.


End file.
